Gijsbert Gerritsen

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study on the chemistry involved in tin oxide film growth during chemical vapor deposition processes

The chemistry of atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) processes is believed to be complex, and detailed reports on reaction mechanisms are scarce. Here, the authors investigated the reaction mechanism of monobutyl tinchloride (MBTC) and water during SnO2 thin film growth using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XPS results indicate an acid–base hydrolysis reaction mechanism, which is tested with multilayer experiments, demonstrating self-terminating growth. In-house developed TEM wafers are used to visualize nucleation during these multilayer experiments, and results are compared with TEM results of APCVD samples. Results show almost identical nucleation behavior implying that their growth mechanism is identical. Our experiments suggest that in APCVD, when using MBTC and water, SnO2 film growth occurs via a heterolytic bond splitting of the Sn-Cl bonds without the need to invoke gas-phase radical or coordination chemistry of the MBTC precursor.